Glossary Entry
What is IPv6?
IPv6 without the jargon — the definition, the analogy, and why any site owner should care.
The short answer
Running beside the exhausted IPv4 internet, IPv6 is the newer addressing scheme with a supply of addresses that is effectively bottomless.
The rest of the page opens it up — the mechanics, why a site owner should care, and one concrete example of it at work.
By the Hosting & Domains team · Reviewed 18 August 2026
0
Jargon left undefined
100+
Entries, all cross-linked
Real
Working examples
Free
To read, always
Its long hexadecimal addresses, such as 2001:db8::1, end scarcity for good. In DNS it is AAAA records that map names onto them, and dual-stack systems answer over either protocol for the length of the transition.
From a site owner's seat it is almost completely invisible. Switch dual-stack hosting on and any visitor whose connection speaks IPv6 is served over it, with no decision made by anyone at either end.
IPv6, by way of an analogy
Widening the numbering plan far enough that the network can never run dry again. The existing numbers keep working, the new capacity is effectively unlimited, and modern equipment handles both formats without a thought.
Carry that picture with you and most documentation on the topic loses its mystery on a first read.
What genuinely rides on it
The future-proofing here happens around you rather than because of anything you do. You notice it reading a zone file, provisioning a server, or chasing the rare bug whose behaviour depends on which protocol the visitor arrived over.
Nobody expects you to work at this layer daily. The aim is recognising it when it explains something — and that moment is exactly when this page pays for itself.
One worked example
On a dual-stack site the phone visitor gets IPv6, native on their mobile network, while the office visitor gets IPv4. The same site and the same content, with the transport chosen per connection.
Scale that example across every website online and you have described the whole job of the concept in one stroke.
Where it appears on this platform
Here it largely looks after itself, since the defaults are sensible and the panel puts the controls within reach the moment you want them. Read on: IP Address, A Record and DNS.
Mailboxes at your own name are part of the plan — mail is included, not sold back to you at the checkout.
Why a hundred definitions were worth the writing
Sooner or later every confusing hosting term turns into a support ticket, so we defined the hundred commonest ones properly — once, in the same plain English we use with customers.
NVMe storage and LiteSpeed caching sit under every tier, the smallest plan included — that is the floor here, not an upgrade.
- 100+ entries, plain English all the way
- Ordinary analogies, working examples
- Neighbouring ideas linked together
- Written by our own support engineers
Why Hosting & Domains
Standard on every plan
Analogies that hold
Every concept comes with a mental model that returns exactly when you need it.
Clear about how deep to go
Most of these are recognise-level rather than operate-level, and every entry says which it is.
Jargon-free by design
Definitions written for people who run sites, not for other sysadmins — translation rather than restatement.
The next step, drawn out
Carry on into IP Address and A Record — ideas rarely travel alone, so the neighbours are linked in.
This term, properly landed
IPv6 defined, pictured by analogy and located in your own panel — recognise-level after a single read.
Stakes made explicit
More than what a thing is: the moments it turns out to be the answer to a problem you have.
Quick Start
Order placed to site online
- 1
Find it in your own account
Open the control panel and find where this idea sits — a definition turns into understanding the moment it attaches to your own site.
- 2
Check the defaults as they stand
Look at how your account has it configured. Nine times in ten the default is right, and a check turns the guess into certainty.
- 3
Chase the neighbouring terms
Hosting terms travel in groups — IP Address, A Record and DNS finish this one's picture, each a two-minute read away.
Built In
Fitted to every plan
- LiteSpeed caching in the server itself rather than bolted on by plugin
- Mailboxes that answer at the name you hold
- Staging copies for trying a change before it goes live
- Softaculous included for one-click application installs
- SSH, Git and Composer on the developer plans
- No set-up charge at any point, and no joining fee
- WebP image optimisation built in, at no extra charge
- WordPress and 400+ further applications installed in one click
- People on the support desk every hour of every day
- Upgrades applied in place, with no migration when you change plan
Frequently Asked
The questions that come up most
Is there anything I need to do about IPv6?
Almost never, since hosting platforms run dual-stack wherever it is enabled. Two exceptions: adding AAAA records to a zone you keep by hand, and enabling IPv6 on a VPS you administer.
Why is IPv4 still around?
Decades of hardware and software assume it, so the changeover happens through coexistence rather than a switch-off date. Scarcity economics finishes the job slowly, since IPv4 addresses now change hands for real money, which concentrates minds.
What happens when I outgrow the plan?
You upgrade in place. Plan changes are made from the client area with no migration and no downtime, and the range runs from small shared accounts through VPS to full dedicated machines. Growth becomes a setting on the account rather than a search for a new host.
How do payments and auto-renewal work?
You pay by credit or debit card through a secure checkout, and renewals bill at the same rate as the original order. Every invoice sits in your client area, and auto-renewal switches off with a toggle in the account — no telephone call needed.
Keep reading
A Record
An A record ties a hostname to an IPv4 address, and it is the DNS entry telling a browser which machine ser…
IP Address
An IP address is a machine's numeric identity on the network, the real destination sitting behind every dom…
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